When Jesus calls, will He get a busy signal?

     There was a young man who had decided that he wanted to become a priest, but he wasn’t sure which seminary he wanted to attend.  One was run by the Dominicans, and the other by the Jesuits.  He visited the one run by the Jesuits and was very impressed, and had all but made up his mind to go there, but he thought he should at least check out the other one to be sure.  He did, and while speaking with the Dominican friar, he asked what the differences were between the two orders.  “Well,” said the stately priest, “they are very similar actually.  Both were  founded by Spaniards--St Dominic the Dominicans, and St. Ignatius of Loyola the Jesuits.  And, they both were started to combat heresy—the Dominicans to fight the Albigensians, and the Jesuits to fight the Protestants.”  “So then what’s the difference?” asked the young man?  The old Dominican just smiled and said:  “You met any Albigensians lately??”

 

     Our readings today offer us a timely message, because they invite us to reflect on our Christian vocation--of our calling to follow Jesus Christ, when society calls us to do just the opposite.  Ours are times that call us to live out the truths of our religion with greater love, with greater joy and with new enthusiasm.  The readings today remind us that every one of us has a vocation. Jesus is urging each one of us, just as he did to the people in the Gospel today, to follow him.  Jesus is constantly passing by; he’s always inviting us to join him, to follow him.  He is active and alive in our lives. He’s a true, divine Person. He is not just some teacher who lived a long time ago. (remember the Gospel last week when Jesus asked his apostles:  who do the people say that I am, and some said Elijah or one of the ancient prophets?)  He’s present in our lives and close to us in his love... Today! Right now.  He wants to have a personal relationship with each one of us. He’s calling us to love him just as he loves each one of us. We are called to leave our old life behind. We are called to have new priorities. But just as Jesus told the man in today’s Gospel, following him doesn’t mean we are going to have an easy life.

      We heard that in the first reading.  The prophet Elijah calls Elisha to follow him. And we heard that striking image of Elisha killing all his farm animals and setting his farming equipment on fire.  For us that looks too extreme an action to take, doesn’t it?  But it’s there to show us what it means to be a disciple. It was a radical decision to follow Jesus back in those days, and, unfortunately, it seems to be becoming more and more radical with each passing day in our own lives.  And understand; it’s not that God is calling us to destroy our past.  But he is calling us to move in a new direction. We cannot let our past hold us back. We need to let go of things. We cannot hold onto things. We cannot try to follow Jesus only half-way.  He’s calling us to seriously follow him, with our whole heart, soul, mind and body.  And God comes into our lives — right where we are.  He comes to us in the middle of everything else we are doing.  The prophet Elijah goes out and finds Elisha in the fields, where he is working. Jesus encounters people as he is walking through their towns and villages. He finds them in their homes, with their families, fishing on the shore.  And that’s the way he is with each one of us. Jesus comes to us where we are — in our homes, at work, at the grocery store. He comes to us in the people we meet, in the circumstances of our days. These are the places where he calls us and says to each one of us: Follow me!

   And remember, Jesus is not calling us to leave our work or to turn our back on our families. Just the opposite. He is calling us to follow him where we are — in our families, through our families, in our work, through our work.  In the daily realities of our lives.  So whatever it is that we do every day, that’s what we have to transform into a place where we find and where we share Jesus with the people around us.  When we’re at home, when we’re with our children or our spouses, or at work or with our neighbors.  Every moment, we have a chance to follow Jesus... or not.  Every moment we have a chance to serve God…or not.  Jesus says to the man in the Gospel: You, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God. And, my brothers and sisters, he’s saying that to each one of us today.  But realize this: we don’t have to “go” anywhere. We can proclaim, and we are called to proclaim, the Kingdom of God wherever we are.  Because we can follow Jesus right where we’re at.  How do we do that? By saying “yes” to what Jesus is asking of us. By serving others. By trying to make people’s lives a little easier, a little happier.  Because, my brothers and sisters, people should notice as they meet us, as they relate to us, that we are followers of Jesus Christ; that we are Christians! “They’ll know we are Christians… (by our love.)

Our homes, our work, our ball-fields—these are the places where we meet Jesus; where we take up our cross and follow him. What a beautiful message that happens in our daily lives; in the ordinary things that we do.

As St. Paul tells us in the second reading, our vocation is true freedom! You were called for freedom, brothers and sisters.  But we also know that our Christian vocation is a challenge. It’s a struggle every day.  So let’s keep pressing forward in our Christian lives. Let us tell Jesus today, as the people in today’s readings, that we want to follow him wherever he goes, wherever he wants to lead us.

 

LOVE

   Our second reading today is probably the most popular wedding reading of all time.  Show of hands—how many of you used this reading at your wedding? I know we did. It is, after all, a wonderful reading.  The thing is, St. Paul wasn’t thinking about weddings when he wrote it.  In fact, he wasn’t even focusing on what love is like.  Rather, he was telling the Corinthians that, in the end, nothing matters more than the answer to the question: are you living out the love of Christ?

      But why did Paul write to the Corinthians about the importance of love?  In order to answer that question, we have to know a little about Corinth at this time in history.  During this period it was a thriving Christian community—at least on the surface.  Most of the believers in Corinth were extremely excited about their faith. There were people with tremendous gifts in that community.  There were teachers, healers, and even some who could speak in tongues.  There were profits.  The word of God was being proclaimed “religiously,” pardon the pun.  The people prayed, and preached the wonderful gospel message that Jesus had Risen from the dead, and that all who believed in him and followed his teachings would live eternally with him in Paradise.  It seemed that everything needed for a vibrant church was happening there in Corinth—except for one thing…the most important thing: the Church in Corinth didn't have enough love in it. Or, as Father Vernon used to say from this very ambo, they talked the talk but didn’t always walk the walk.  In spite of all the wonderful things that were happening there; in spite of all the spiritual wisdom that was shared; in spite of all the faith that the people claimed to have, some very “non-Christian” things were going on in Corinth.  Two elders dragged each other off to court instead of making peace with one another; folks ate and drank too much while others went hungry; public disagreements about which of the apostles who visited Corinth were the best and which were the worst; people believing that their contribution to the community of faith was more significant than the contributions being made by others, and therefore their views on things should be considered more important.  In short, people in Corinth were, at times, rude to one another, impatient, arrogant, greedy, selfish, egotistical, and unkind.  This, even though they preached the Word of God regularly and had otherwise displayed some wonderful spiritual gifts.

 

  And so Paul writes to the people of Corinth about love in a way that is perhaps hard to understand.  Listen to what Paul says: “If you have faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love - you are nothing.  If you give away everything you own, even handing your body over, but do not have love, you have gained nothing.”  Basically, if you have tremendous faith in God and hope in the resurrection, but do not have love, you’re out of luck. Wow, right?

 

  So love is kind of a big deal. It’s the test of our faith.  Just as “they’ll know we are Christians by our love,” by the same token, they’ll know we’re not very good Christians by our lack of love.  And so we must ask ourselves: “what is love?” Love involves seeking the highest good for God's creation.  God first, neighbor second, self…last.  Love is being more interested in the well-being of others than our own.  It is seeing everyone through the lens of Christ, and treating them as Christ has treated us . And so, it’s not for me to judge you, or for you to judge me, but rather, we must look at ourselves and ask: am I focused on Christ, or on myself?  Am I showing the love of God to others--doing what Jesus would do, and allowing Jesus to work through me?  Or, am I allowing my feelings, my frustrations, my needs, my pride, to dominate my interactions with others?

 

  Let’s look at the reading again, and see if we can put ourselves in the place of love…    

I am patient.  I am kind. I am not jealous. I am not pompous. I am not inflated.  I am not rude. I do not seek my own interests. I am not quick-tempered. I do not brood over injury.  I do not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoice with the truth.

I bear all things. I believe all things. I hope all things. I endure all things.

 

That sounds really hard, doesn’t it?  But we could very easily insert Jesus’ name in place of love, couldn’t we?  God is love.  Jesus is love.  And he can help us be more like him, if we will affix our gaze on him. Jesus abides in us.  He’s in my heart and yours, ready to help us love as he loves us.  And the way we do that is to be focused on him and on his example; to ask ourselves as we open our mouths or move our hands--is this what Jesus would say?  Is this what Jesus would do? Remember those bracelets that people wore, WWJD?

 

  What about on those occasions when you don't feel loving?  Do the caring thing anyway.  Don't feel like being kind?  Say something nice about the person who is being rude to you anyway.  Don't think that someone else's plan will work as good as yours?  Try doing it their way anyway.  Don't think you can possibly do what God is calling you to do? Start doing it… anyway.  Strive for the greater gifts--the greatest of which is love. Strive for it--and live as if you have it--for the truth is, you do.  Christ died to bring love to you and to show you what it’s like, and he rose from the dead on the third day to show that it's power is greater than the power of sin and death.  As Pope Francis said recently in his message for Lent:  “Love alone is the answer to that yearning for infinite happiness.”

 

 

    For Paul, love was the base of Christianity, and the measure of its success.  It is the greatest of all the virtues; it is the virtue that most makes us human.  If we want to change the world we live in today, we need to find ways to make love visible in the world. We can say we have love, but it’s in the doing of all those other things that makes love a reality.  If we are patient with the cashier at the grocery store…if we are kind to the homeless person asking for money…if we are not jealous of our neighbor and his fancy new car—or pompous about all of our possessions…if we are not rude to the “foreigners” who just moved in across the street…if we put the interests of our spouse, our children, our parents, ahead of our own.  These are all simple signs of love in action.  Simple, but not necessarily easy.

   When you look up the word “love” in the dictionary, it’s classified as a noun.  I remember being taught as a young boy that a noun is a “thing” and a verb is an “action word.”  Each one of us is charged by Jesus Christ to make “love” an action word; not just something we have, but something we choose to do…every day.  So whether you read St. Paul, or listen to Sir Paul…George, John, and Ringo, all we really need is love